1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to image processing technology, and more particularly, to a low-complexity method of converting two-dimension (2D) images/videos into three-dimension (3D) ones.
2. Description of the Related Art
The greatest difference between the 2D image/video and the 3D image/video lies in the availability of depth information map containing the relative distances between all of the objects in the 2D image/video and the spectator or photographer, so the depth information map is very crucial to the playback effect of the 3D stereoscopic display technology.
The conventional method of generation of image/video depth map includes two types. One is to take a photo of the same scene by a multi-lens camera to get two 2D images/videos and more and then to figure out a depth information map based on frame disparity. The other is to generate a depth information map based on the image/video taken by a general camera; however, the general camera can only photograph 2D frames at single angle of view, so it is highly complex to figure out depth of field based on one 2D image/video at single angle of view. For example, a thesis titled “Depth Map Generation by Image Classification” published by Battiato Sebastiano in 2004 discloses some similar methods—image classification, vanishing point detection, and mean-shift segmentation. Such methods need very high calculative complexity. For example, a thesis “Mean Shift Analysis and applications” published by Dorin Comaniciu mentions the mean-shift calculation in need of integral, exponential, and logarithmic calculations. In light of this, it is very difficult to immediately apply the conventional technology in this field in practice.